Apple iOS 5 Newsstand

Yes! Finally, easy access and purchasing of magazine issues and subscriptions on the iPad with Apple’s Newsstand. I’m not a fan of Zinio’s magazine store b/c they’re usually straight up conversions of the printed publication. Dedicated magazine apps work the best and I think the Newsstand will consolidate all of these specialized magazine apps into one place. It was hard searching the store to find out which magazines had their own apps. Problem solved!

WTD: Pre-Ordered iPhone 4!

As an Apple fan I think I can be pretty impressed with myself that I was able to wait until the 4th iteration of the popular iPhone. But I finally did it because with its new features and new design, it is Worth The Dough.

I pre-ordered the Apple iPhone 4 through AT&T’s website. I was originally going to pre-order from Radio Shack b/c they were offering a $20 gift card, but Apple mostly blocked third party retailers from early pre-ordering. Plus it’s easier to just order online through AT&T and get free shipping for it to arrive at my doorstep as soon as it is released on Thursday June 24, 2010.

Now why did I finally get one? Well the biggest reason is that Steve Jobs and Apple finally decided to put in a proper 5MP camera with LED flash. The Sony Ericsson W810i that I’ve had for over 2 years has an LED flash that can be used as a flashlight. I use it ALL the time. Such a small feature, but the most useful to me. It’s great to have a flashlight on you at all times. One time while hiking up in CT we didn’t plan ahead and got stuck trying to get back out of the trails after it got dark. Luckily, my phone’s flashlight helped lead the way. The ability to shoot HD video is also plus, although I don’t see myself using the feature all too often. The other new features such as the high quality Retina display, multi-tasking and FaceTime are great as well. But they just round out the package of the already amazing iPhone. Speaking of the Retina display, it sure makes me glad I was able to wait on the iPad as well b/c I’m sure the next iPad will have this feature.

So all in all, the iPhone 4 is definitely Worth The Dough!

WTD: Zinio and International Magazines for iPad

Where have I been? Apparently Zinio features magazine subscriptions to be read on the computer and soon on the iPad. Although they’ve been around for over 10 years, for some reason they haven’t come up in my Google searches for internet magazine subscriptions. So I’m going to try and get the word out. In my last post I posted how the iPad needs magazine subscriptions before I would buy one. Zinio has them. And they have plenty of car mags to subscribe to, including Road & Track. I think my decision has been made now. Zinio makes the Apple iPad Worth The Dough.

It seems like the cost of the subscriptions are the same as or a couple bucks less than their paper counterparts. Or as some people call “dead tree versions.” For example the Road & Track subscription is $8 as opposed to $10 for the print version. The real savings however are in International magazine subscriptions.

British car magazines are widely known to be bigger and better than US car magazines. And since Europe is where Formula 1 is popular, their F1 publications, like F1 Racing, are amazing. The US simply does not have any dedicated F1 publications because F1 isn’t as big in the US. Subscriptions to these mags by a US subscriber are very expensive. I mean, these British publications are expensive for British subscribers too but with shipping fees and other fees it’s even worse for US subscribers. For example, a 1 year subscription to the print edition of F1 Racing is $66 for UK subscribers and $90 for US subscribers! So far Zinio only has the spanish version of F1 Racing, but a 1 year subscription is $43.39. Look at the cost savings! Cheaper for both UK and US subscribers. Here are some other prices for US subscriptions to other International publications.

Lastly, I’m going to go slightly off topic and mention that for those who like reading novels more than periodicals, it’s been said that Project Gutenberg books will work on the iPad. “The site has over 30,000 free ebooks, most of them classics whose copyrights have lapsed.”

So there it is. The Apple iPad is Worth The Dough and Zinio is a major reason why. If you like international magazines like I do, then it is WTD for you too!

WTD: Why Magazines Need to Be On the iPad Pronto!

Yesterday the Wi-Fi version of the Apple iPad became available for pre-order. I’ll eventually get an iPad, but I didn’t pre-order it. Why not? No, not because it doesn’t have flash or a webcam, but because the Apple iPad is not Worth the Dough for me unless there are magazines available for it! Without magazines on the iPad, not only does Apple not get my money, the magazine publications don’t get my money either because I won’t be subscribing to any until they have an iPad version.

I’m a big fan of magazines and throughout my life I’ve been a subscriber of magazines like Road & Track, Men’s Health and Wired. Well I’ve since slowed down with my subscriptions because the internet has replaced them as my avenue for consuming articles that are not only interesting to read, but also visually appealing with great photography. And that’s what magazines are all about. But I still like to flip through the glossy pages of a magazine and would rather do that than sit in front of an iMac or Macbook clicking through the internet with a Magic Mouse. And that’s what appeals to me the most about the iPad – The ability to feel like I’m flipping through a magazine while getting content like the internet. An internet magazine on my lap!

So I repeat. Magazine publications better create an iPad version and subscription model soon because they won’t have my business again until they do. So far only Conde Nast has revealed any plans to develop magazine apps. Wired says they’ll have one by the summer and it looks great. That’s probably about the time I’ll buy the iPad and my first magazine subscription in awhile. My Wired subscription just ended and I want to renew it b/c it is a great publication, but I’m going to wait until their iPad app comes out before I subscribe again.

I’m also hoping that one of the car publications will get their content onto an iPad. I hope Road & Track does because they are my favorite car publication. 0-60 Mag would be great too because they emphasize great photography. Edmunds’ Inside Line website on the internet would be a great template for an iPad automotive magazine application. It has great visual slideshows that can be seen full screen to go along with their articles. And that would be perfect for the iPad. Check out one of their articles. Just what the iPad was designed for. I really don’t know why Apple didn’t push to have magazines (and comic books for that matter) onto their iPad instead of just iBooks.

So my message to the magazine publications and Apple: Put magazines onto the iPad pronto! Magazine subscriptions and the iPad aren’t Worth the Dough to me until that happens.

WTD: Apple Aperture 3 Upgrade

What a nice birthday present! Apple today just released a new version of their excellent photo management software, Aperture 3. I have Aperture 2 and I love it. I don’t think there’s a better photo management software program available today that can be used to organize and make minor (non-destructive) adjustments to the thousands of photos that people take every day. And the few minor gripes I had about the features that were missing from Aperture 2 have been included in version 3. Although the new faces and places features similar to iPhoto are welcome and needed additions, the following features are what I thought were missing from Aperture 2 but are now available. For $99 to upgrade I think Aperture 3 is Worth The Dough! And if you don’t have it at all, I also think buying the full Aperture 3 for $199 is WTD also.

Nondestructive Brushes
Make nondestructive image enhancements to specific areas of any photo using new adjustment brushes. Use brush strokes to modify — brush in or brush away — most of the standard image adjustments available in the Adjustments inspector. You can control the size, softness, and strength of each brush with intuitive sliders.

Powerful New Curves Tool
Use the new Curves tool to adjust exposure and tweak color. Curve adjustments can be applied to luminance, RGB, or individual color channels. You can set the black, white, and midtone points, as well as place custom points along the curve using a target tool. All Curves adjustments can be brushed in or brushed away as needed to achieve desired results.

Adjustment Presets
If you use a combination of adjustments frequently, save it as a preset. Then apply the preset to individual images or a batch of images. Aperture 3 includes dozens of ready-to-use presets, and you can easily create your own and export them for use by others.

Video Support
Import, browse, and play back video clips — including HD video — from digital SLR cameras, point-and-shoot cameras, and digital camcorders.

Focus Points
Hover over the Focus Points button in the Camera Info pane to see the focus points used by your camera to autofocus the image. You can also click the button to turn the display of focus points on or off.

Labels
Apply up to eight different color-coded labels to images to organize and group them. Add a custom name for each color label in Aperture preferences. Simple keyboard shortcuts allow you to apply labels using the keyboard.

Print Watermarks
Now Aperture can automatically apply graphic watermarks not only when exporting images, but when printing as well.

Batch Rename Masters
When using the Batch Change feature to rename photos, you now have the option of applying the name change to the master image files on disk.

Source: Apple’s Aperture site.

Business Idea: iPad Magazine Rack

Back in December, I wrote about a Magazine Store. And just yesterday Apple introduced it’s newest creation, the iPad. The hype leading up to it was that Apple would revolutionize printed media like books and magazines. So far the vision is there, but it is blurry at best and may take some time to develop. So far Apple has created an iBooks store for books to be added to the iPad, but nothing has been said yet about magazines (and comic books). But it’ll probably eventually happen. If it does, how great would it be if my magazine store had iPads instead of magazines? Well ClarkeHopkinsClarke visualized a wall full of iPads and I think this would be an excellent idea for my store! Their main vision was for the iPads to be like a replacement for mosaic tiles on an interior wall, but they also mention them as a great “life sized digital bookcase.” In this way, it would be a great display for my store. It’d be where the visitors to my store would pick up their iPad magazines to browse. Oh well just another idea floating around for now. 🙂

Must Read: Gizmodo and Apple Magic

Another great Must Read article on Gizmodo’s site. Read it. It’s about how Apple shows and sells only products, not concepts. Apple shows products that they end up selling exactly as advertised while most other companies tease with wild concepts that many times don’t end up becoming real. For example, not all the ideas and features of concept cars become real in true-to-concept form. In the consumer’s eyes, it’s like a broken promise. And that’s why Apple succeeds while other companies often disappoint.

Must Read: Gizmodo’s Opinion On The Apple Tablet Interface

Rumors about the upcoming Apple Tablet are peaking since Apple’s revealing is less than a week away. January 27th, 2010 at 1pm ET is the big announcement when it is supposed to be revealed. Any details about the tablet are just rumors, and two of the biggest question marks of the device that could determine its success or failure are:

What will be its main purpose and functions (e-reader, surfing the web, gaming device, etc)?

What type of interface will it use (modal like a large iphone, laptop/desktop-like Mac OS X, combo of both)?

Well posted on gizmodo is an opinion piece of what the interface should be like. Click on the picture below to read the blog. It’s a great read because it runs through the progression of the evolution of the user interface from computers to the windows tablet to the iphone and then the upcoming tablet. And it makes total sense. Here are some selected quotes:

The prediction: “The interface will just be an evolution of an existing user interface, one without folders and windows, but with applications that take over the entire screen.”

Why the Windows Tablet Failed: “While Bill Gates’ idea of a tablet was a market failure, it achieved one significant success: It demonstrated that transferring a desktop user interface to a tablet format was a horrible idea, destined to fail.”

The iPhone Interface: “Every time you launch an app, the machine transforms into a new device, showing a graphical representation of its interface.”

Why the iPhone was Successful: “When it came out, people instantly got this concept. Clicking icons transformed their new gadget into a dozen different gadgets. Then, when the app store appeared, their device was able to morph into an unlimited number of devices, each serving one task.”

The Final Word: “To me, the tablet will be the continuation of the end for the classic windowed environment and the desktop metaphor user interface.”

Business Idea: Magazine Rack Store

I love magazines. Always have, always will. If I could, I would dedicate a whole room in my house to collect magazines. When I was in college at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, I used to love going to a place called Joe Muggs’ Newsstand, shown below.

All the store had was coffee and magazines. I’m not sure what happened, but this past year when I visited Atlanta it wasn’t there anymore. Joe Muggs itself is owned by Books A Million and their website says that they still own Joe Muggs Newsstands with an “exhaustive newsstand selection of magazines, newspapers and best sellers.” But on google maps it looks like nothing has taken its place yet. So although it seems that this place eventually went out of business (not sure how long it stayed in business, but it lasted at least the 4 years I was in college) I would’ve loved to have opened up a business exactly like it.

But now that time is past because the printed magazine will soon be dead. The future will be electronic media. Ebook readers like Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Nobles’ Nook are available now. And there are many rumors swirling around about Apple creating a tablet device in 2010 that could be used for consuming books and magazines. However, the best interpretation of an electronic magazine reader is the Mag+ by Berg. It looks pretty awesome to me. I hope they come out with it soon!

Check out the Mag+ Video from Bonnier on Vimeo.

So what do you think? A store that stocks a whole load of Mag+ for people to read and buy, coffee to sip on, and Macbooks or iMacs to use?

New Hobby: Learning Guitar

As you know from my previous posts, I just bought a new Macbook Pro. Well it comes pre-installed with the newest GarageBand software as part of iLife. With the new GarageBand, you can download for Free a set of 9 music lessons to learn how to play the guitar (and piano, but I know how to play the piano already). Well starting this Thanksgiving I decided to learn guitar. I’ll be using the GarageBand lessons to learn the basics of guitar. And I’ll be using my Mom’s vintage Yamaha acoustic guitar that I borrowed from my sister who was of course borrowing it from my Mom. I picked it up from my sister when I went with my family to NC to visit her and her husband at their new house for Thanksgiving. Here it is on their couch:

So in support of my new hobby, I’ve surrounded myself with things to inspire me. First of all, I’ve Tivo’d a bunch of MTV Unplugged performances. I’ve also bookmarked a couple of YouTube guitar lessons (Drive by Incubus, Lazy Eye by The Silversun Pickups). And I’ll need to buy a guitar stand so that the guitar will be easily accessible and I can play it for at least 15 mins a day.

So far I’ve gotten through GarageBand lessons 1 and 2 and followed along with some of the two song lessons on YouTube. This weekend I’ve practiced alot and discovered how much patience is needed to learn to play. And my fingers will need to develop some good muscle memory. But I’m up for the challenge. My goal is to be able to play the Incubus and Silversun Pickups songs by Christmas 2010. Just so you know, “Drive” by Incubus is a tough song! Here are the two lessons: